The 20th Anniversary of the "Hansen Hearing", June 23, 2008: Resources

Photo courtesy Kaveh Sardari

On June 23, 1988, in sweltering heat, James Hansen told a U.S. Senate committee that the year's record temperatures were not the result of natural variation. Global warming had arrived.

Exactly twenty years later, the Worldwatch Institute and the United Nations Foundation commemorated the historic turning point by hosting an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where Hansen reflected on the past 20 years and outlined the immediate action required to avert catastrophic and irreversible climate change.

Many thanks to the event's sponsors, including the Center for Global Development, Cool Air - Clean Planet, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, World Resources Institute, and the World Wildlife Fund.

Many regard Hansen as the Paul Revere of climate change. This three-part series, written by staff writer Ben Block, documents how Hansen sounded the alarm in 1988, and recalls what has transpired since.